Research on religion and mental health does not point to one universal relationship. Results vary by age, country, religious measure, outcome, and study period. The statistics below cover depression, anxiety, major depressive disorder, counseling symptoms, and mental-health severity in adolescents, older adults, university students, Black Caribbean adults, and communal worshippers.
Table of contents
- Chinese adolescents during March 2020
- Differences across religious affiliations
- Older adults in a Brazilian military setting
- Religious participation among Black Caribbean adults
- U.S. university counseling data
- Communal worshippers during the first UK lockdown
Chinese adolescents during March 2020
A study of Chinese students in grades 7–9 examined religious belief, depression, and anxiety from March 21–31, 2020. Religious beliefs were reported by 7.7% of 11,069 valid respondents, or 847 students. Across all surveyed adolescents, depressive symptoms were present in 37.5% and anxiety symptoms in 23.4%. Correlations of religious beliefs with anxiety and depression of Chinese adolescents
The study reported different symptom prevalence by religious-belief status:
- Depressive symptoms affected 43.8% of adolescents reporting religious beliefs, compared with 37.0% of non-religious adolescents.
- Anxiety symptoms affected 30.8% of adolescents reporting religious beliefs, compared with 22.8% of non-religious adolescents.
- Mean PHQ-9 depression scores were 5.4 among religious adolescents and 4.4 among non-religious adolescents.
- Mean GAD-7 anxiety scores were 3.5 among religious adolescents and 2.7 among non-religious adolescents.
After adjustment for age, sex, and parental marital status, religious belief had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.37 for depressive symptoms, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.16–1.61. The adjusted odds ratio for anxiety symptoms was 1.49, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.23–1.79. In multivariable linear regression, religious belief was associated with a 0.76-point higher depression score, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.47–1.04, and a 0.62-point higher anxiety score, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.38–0.85.
These are associations observed in Chinese adolescents during a specific 10-day period in 2020. They do not establish that religious belief caused depression or anxiety, and they should not be generalized automatically to other countries, ages, or periods.
Differences across religious affiliations
Among the Chinese adolescents reporting religious beliefs, 80.5% were Buddhist, 11.8% Christian, 2.6% Muslim, and 5.1% affiliated with other religions. The same study reported the following mean symptom scores:
| Religious affiliation | Mean depression score | Mean anxiety score |
|---|---|---|
| Buddhist | 5.2 | 3.3 |
| Christian | 5.5 | 3.2 |
| Muslim | 7.5 | 5.6 |
| Other religions | 8.2 | 6.4 |
Depression-score differences across the four affiliation groups were not statistically significant, with p=0.07. Anxiety-score differences were also not statistically significant, with p=0.06. The smaller Muslim and other-religion groups are part of the context when reading these comparisons; the supplied study reports the scores but does not make them a universal ranking of religious communities.
Older adults in a Brazilian military setting
A 2007 study examined religiousness, health, and depression among older adults in a Brazilian military setting. Depression was present in 41.1% of participants attending religious services less than weekly and 21.9% of those attending at least weekly. By perceived importance of religion, depression was present in 48.3% of adults who said religion was not or somewhat important and 23.3% who said it was very important. Religiousness, Health, and Depression in Older Adults from a Brazilian Military Setting
The study also reported differences in selected health measures. Hospitalization during the previous six months was reported by 30.0% of adults for whom religion was not or somewhat important and 10.7% for whom it was very important. Smoking was reported by 26.7% of the former group and 10.7% of the latter group.
After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, weekly-or-more attendance was associated with lower odds of depression: OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.12–0.64. Rating religion as very important was associated with lower odds of depression, OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.08–0.44; lower odds of hospitalization in the prior six months, OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.13–0.85; and lower odds of smoking, OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.10–0.77.
Using higher religiousness as the reference, lower self-reported religiousness was associated with higher depression prevalence, OR 5.13, 95% CI 2.25–11.68. Using higher attendance as the reference, low religious attendance was associated with higher depression prevalence, OR 3.48, 95% CI 1.55–7.85.
Among Roman Catholics in this study, higher attendance was associated with lower depression odds, OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.08–0.78. Higher self-reported religiousness was also associated with lower depression odds, OR 0.17, 95% CI 0.06–0.53. These findings describe a 2007 Brazilian population and an observational study context, not a current estimate for all older adults or all Catholics.
Religious participation among Black Caribbean adults
Research using a U.S. sample of Black Caribbean adults from 2001–2003 reported a 12-month DSM-IV major depressive disorder prevalence of 7.74%. The reported 12-month prevalence varied by religious-service attendance: 2.84% among respondents who never attended, 11.14% among those attending less than once per year, 6.60% among those attending a few times per year, 14.89% among those attending a few times per month, and 2.57% among those attending at least once a week. Religious Participation and DSM IV Major Depressive Disorder among Black Caribbeans in the United States
Lifetime major depression showed a similarly varied pattern across the reported attendance categories:
- 6.84% among respondents who never attended religious services.
- 19.94% among those attending less than once per year.
- 15.43% among those attending a few times per year.
- 20.19% among those attending a few times per month.
- 4.77% among those attending at least once a week.
- 18.42% among those attending nearly every day.
The non-monotonic percentages are important. They show why attendance categories should not be reduced to a simple assumption that more attendance always corresponds to less depression. These measurements refer to a U.S. Black Caribbean sample and to data collected in 2001–2003; they are not a current prevalence estimate for the wider U.S. population.
U.S. university counseling data
A study of 9,373 U.S. university students attending a first counseling session during 2019–2023 found that Christians represented 25.81% of the students. The study compared mean CCAPS symptom scores across religious-identity groups. Mental health status at initial counseling sessions among US university students: A comparative analysis by race and religion
Reported mean depression scores were 2.19 for Hindu students, 1.67 for Jewish students, 1.84 for Christian students, and 2.13 for Muslim students. Hindu students had the highest mean depression score among the religious-identity groups studied, while Jewish students had the lowest among the groups identified in the report.
For generalized anxiety, the reported mean CCAPS scores were 2.12 for Buddhist students, 1.92 for Christian students, and 2.09 for Muslim students. The religion-group comparison for depression was statistically significant, F(8,9364)=14.78, with η²=0.012. The comparison for generalized anxiety was also statistically significant, F=4.82, with η²=0.004.
The effect-size values provide context: statistical significance indicates that the group comparison met the study’s statistical criterion, while η² describes the proportion of variation associated with the comparison in this analysis. Counseling attendees are a specific student population, so these scores should not be treated as prevalence estimates for all U.S. university students.
Communal worshippers during the first UK lockdown
Among 853 UK communal worshippers during the first lockdown in 2020, PHQ-9 results placed 19.3% in the mild-depression category, 5.3% in the moderate category, 2.9% in the moderately severe category, and 1.2% in the severe category. The study also reported the corresponding counts: 165 respondents with mild depression, 45 with moderate depression, 25 with moderately severe depression, and 10 with severe depression. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communal religious worshippers’ mental health and the benefits of positive religious coping
On the GAD-7, 22.5% had mild anxiety, 6.4% had moderate anxiety, and 3.2% had severe anxiety. These categories describe symptom severity within the surveyed communal-worshipper sample during the first UK lockdown; they are not a forecast and do not represent all UK residents or all religious groups.
Age was associated with the odds of moderate or severe anxiety in the adjusted analysis. Compared with 18–34-year-olds, the adjusted odds ratio was 0.35 for ages 35–64 and 0.21 for ages 65 and older. In other words, within this study’s adjusted comparison, the older age groups had lower odds of moderate or severe anxiety than the youngest reference group. The result remains tied to the lockdown period, the UK setting, the communal-worshipper sample, and the measures used.